Saturday, October 24, 2009

Groovy?

Are you in the groove for 2010?

Remember back in the 1980's when the PGA Tour tried to abolish square grooves? Mark Calcavechia entered the Tour with Ping irons, with square grooves, and the former PGA caddy started outplaying other tour players out of the rough! So the PGA Tour made a rule that square grooves could not be used on Tour. PING, faced with the possibilty of not being able to sell millions of sets of irons with square grooves, sued the PGA! The PGA gave in, and allowed square grooves.

Now, the PGA, after an agreed upon "cooling off" period, has ruled that, beginning January, 2010, Tour players may not use square grooves on Tour! Obviously, 156 tour players that tee it up every week will not determine manufacturing decisions that are made by the chief executives at PING, Taylor Made, Titleist, Nike, Cleveland Golf, Adams Golf, and other iron manufacturers. 25 million amateur golfers in the USA will continue to play their square gooves, UNLESS the USGA rules that square grooves are no longer legal.

But what if the USGA makes such a ruling? In my experience, amateur golfers will continue to play clubs that give them an advantage, so they can win their "weekend nassau bets" with their buddies. Only entrants in official USGA tournaments will comply with such a ruling.

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